many reflections

I have a lot to catch up on here, don't I?

First, our trip to DC and Chambersburg was wonderful. Too wonderful, in fact, because it was actually physically painful to come home to Orlando. The mobs of harried holiday travelers we encountered at OIA versus the cool organization of Dulles did not enhance the comparison in Orlando's favor, either. I really feel as though I have lived in this city too, too long, and if it weren't for coming back to my dear friends, my degree, and my snugglebuttons cat, I might not have come back at all.



We spent 4 days pounding the pavement around DC and northern Virginia. The only other time Jason and I were in DC was back when we were dating and in the city for my cousin Jen's wedding in October 2004, and he only saw Georgetown University and about 45 minutes of one Smithsonian museum. So, I was determined to show him "my" DC, and we covered just about everything: the memorials and monuments, the museums, the White House (outside only, as we didn't know you need some sort of special clearance from your local congressperson to get in), the Capitol Building, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, and of course, probably a hundred miles total of the Metro system. We must have walked between 5-8 miles a day, trying to get everything in - my legs have never been so sore. But we got some amazing photos from it all, which you can see here. Staying with my Aunt Carol and Uncle Tim was also a treat: their house was always the home you wanted to come home to when all was said and done.



Our time in Chambersburg was really incredible, even though we only had a few days to spend there. Chambersburg is this little-but-growing town in southern Pennsylvania, about an hour from Gettysburg and 20 minutes from the Maryland state line. It is home to Martins Potato Rolls and hundreds of acres of manure-scented pasture. When I was growing up, it was always cool to go to DC - endless hours of stimulation and entertainment awaited me. However, I never liked going to Chambersburg: nothing there to entertain me. I loved all my uncles there, my mom's Amazonian brothers, who towered over me and made me squeal with delight when they tossed me into the air. I loved seeing my Nana. But those cow pastures get pretty old, and to boot, there weren't any kids my age on that side of the family. I had 3 cousins whom I hardly saw, two of whom were boys and therefore Infested With Cooties, and the one girl, a few years younger than me, decided that it would be great fun to lock me in the trunk of her dad's car, giggling outside and making me sure I would die a slow, carpeted death. She got me out after 15 minutes, but I never got over it and vowed to never, ever play with her again.

So it really, really surprised me last week when I found myself falling in love with the town after so many years away but so many vivid memories still playing in my mind. It is small, quaint, miles away from anything resembling bad traffic, filled with families and cute antique shops and some newer development, like the Target store being built and the Hagerstown outlet mall just minutes away. My Nana is still there, my uncles are still there (and still very, very tall), the cow patties are still there. Two of my aunts are there who are both wonderful, down-to-earth people, and there's the addition of my most precious cousin, Kiana, who delights me with her 8-year-old girliness and giggles (you can see her about a year and a half ago here). After about 6 hours there, Jason and I looked at each other and then to the town where we saw everything we had been looking for: a small town with wide open spaces, a great community to raise a family, all four seasons plus some snow. The job market is wide open, as is the real estate market, and Chambersburg Hospital is a great place that desperately needs good nurses. We're hoping to visit again during my next semester break - possibly early May - and we're submitting all of these revelations and deep desires to God in the meantime.



And I came home to Orlando after several large, butter-laden meals financed by my relatives, only to find that I had lost 1.2 pounds. It was pretty astounding, I tell you. I am only .2 away from reaching the 150's, numbers I saw only for a brief while as I was growing up. And even more amazing than that was the shopping day in Hagerstown at Ann Taylor with my mom: I instinctively reach for size 12s, thinking that they're going to be tight anyway. This cute skirt I found in a size 12 nearly fell off my hips, so I assumed they sized them big and reached for a size 10. Still didn't fit: it was just too long and didn't hang right. My mom insists the size 10 is too big and gets a size 8 for me, and I protest because no way am I a single-digit size in anything, especially not at Ann Taylor. Still, she makes me try it on... AND IT FITS.



I think I'm still in shock. I'm in shock over all of it, really: the knee-length boots that zip without tugging, the tops in sizes not containing the letters "XL" or "L", the butt that is both smaller and rounder, the delight in seeing myself in the mirror reflection. I'm not yet where I want to be - I'm about halfway - but I love that I am smaller and am finally enjoying the process and not just the anticipation of the goal. People compliment me a lot these days, and though the weight isn't dropping off as quickly as it used to, I'm at a miraculous spot right now, and anything in the losing-weight direction is just more icing on the fat-free cake.